Brief History of the Beall Family
As recalled by Marion Pennington Boyles

[Info in brackets added by the webmaster.]

The earliest information I have about our grandfather, W. L. Beall, was given to me by his daughter and my mother, Annie Lee Beall Pennington.

His first wife was Mollie Upton. In this marriage there were six children [later determined to be seven], three of which died in infancy or at a very early age. The three surviving children were Willie R., Bennie Jordan., and Annie Lee who all lived into their eighties.

Mollie died at age 32 from an illness known as consumption. Mother was only six when Mollie died but she remembered her mother calling the three children to her bedside and hugging them. She also said that just before Mollie died a white dove flew to the window of her mother's room and lit on the window sill.

The family lived on a farm six miles south of Dublin. In later years I often took Mother back to visit her mother's grave and the old home place. The house had been well maintained an the people who lived there were extremely nice. They remembered Mother's family and would invite us to sit in the swing and visit. Mother always had to show me again the window in the room in which her mother died.

Mollie's unmarried cousin, Blanche [ census image in her father, James F. Upton's house] Virginia Upton lived with them which was typical in those days. After Mollie's death she continued to live with them and care for the children. Mother said one day Granddad and Virginia drove in the buggy to Dublin. When they got back home Granddad said, "Children, meet your new mother." They had always loved Virginia and she loved them in return, so they saw little difference in having her for their mother.

Mollie, Virginia, and their children are buried in the cemetery at Bethlehem Baptist Church which is near where the family lived. As one enters the gate to the cemetery, the Beall's plot is directly to the back under a huge oak tree. In the center is a four-sided marble obelisk about four feet high. On the front side is the name "Beall." On the right side is the name Mollie Upton and under her name, her children are listed with the dates of each one's birth and death. Then on the right side all of these are buried in a row side by side.

One day Murrell and I had taken Mother back to the cemetery and while copying the dates of births and deaths, I noticed that Mollie died one year and Virginia had her first baby the next year. Time wise this was okay because one happened the first of one year and the other the last of the next year which made a span of almost two years, but I jokingly told Mother that some hanky-panky must have been going on. Mother almost had a fit that I would even tease about something like that and let me know that she did not appreciate my humor.

I have no record of when Granddad married his third wife, Annie Key, but I assume this marriage took place while the family was still living in Laurens County. [1910 census indicates marriage was in 1907]. To this union there were born three children named Louise, Samuel and Johnnie. For Mollie's children this marriage was quite different from the marriage to Virginia because now they had to adapt to a stepmother and I am sure those early years were not too easy for anyone. Mother often said that during this period Willie and Bennie served as her protectors. However, when these children had families of their own we never thought of the third wife being anything but "Grandmother." One thing that always puzzled me and I never knew why but Grandmother called Granddad "Mr. Beall" as long as she lived. She was a beautiful woman and always had the most beautiful flower garden. Her flower garden covered at least an acre and she grew some of the prettiest and biggest poppies one could ever imagine.

In the early 1900s the family moved from Laurens County to Jeff Davis County. [Willie is in Hazelhurst, Jeff Davis County by April 16, 1910 according to the 1910 cenus and listed as a farmer] At first they lived in town but later began buying land in a community now known as Roper. As he acquired more and more land he began building houses and establishing a community. The house he built for his family was a huge, roomy dwelling with large rooms, high ceilings and windows that extended to the floor. It had a very wide porch that wrapped itself all around the entire house Inside was a long hallway from the front to the back of the house. The hall even had a huge fireplace which made it a nice place for children to play and for church socials (the only type of parties allowed). Every room including the huge dining room had a fireplace and the living room was unique in that it was octagon-shaped. This made furniture arrangement difficult because most every piece had to be put in front of a window.

One of the first things Granddad did was to deed a number of acres of land to the deacons of Elizabeth Baptist Church which meant it could never be sold or used for anything but a church, and today a very lovely modern up to date brick edifice is still on the original property. It is a tribute to one who until the day he died loved and supported this church. When I remember Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church I can still see Granddad proudly walking down the aisle and taking his seat in the "Amen Corner." I can also hear his humble and earnest prayers. Granddad has been gone over fifty years now but when one visits Elizabeth today he or she will always see a Beall descendant there in some leadership role - either a Sunday School teacher, deacon, usher, Training Union Director, choir member or nursery worker.

I remember that the houses built for the tenant farmers were nice homes. As a child I especially liked one which was yellow. Some were painted white and I remember one had a lot of red to match the barn. It has often been told of Granddad that anyone who moved to the community had to be white and Baptist. This was so that Elizabeth Baptist would grow. Some outstanding people lived in the community and they still attend Elizabeth Baptist Church.

Later, Granddad gave land to build a school. It was a two-room building painted yellow where most of the children received their education. The teachers always lived at Granddad's and were not required to have college degrees. Needless to say their knowledge of the world and especially math was very limited. My sisters and I went to the city school in Hazlehurst which we were allowed to do by paying a small amount of tuition. Very few of the county children went there, but I remember my father saying we would receive a better education if we had college-trained teachers. I realized even then that he was right because often helped the teachers at the county school work the problems they would teach their students the next day although I was still an elementary student. There was no embarrassment on their part because it was a secret we always kept.

The community began to grow. More families moved in. Cotton was the main crop grown so a cotton gin was build and also sawmill and grist mill. The Georgia and Florida trains ran through the property and a post office was built. The town was named "Beall, Georgia." I remember in later years seeing a post card Mother had addressed to her with the Beall postmark. It was from one of her boy friends so I assume that was why she had saved it.

Granddad ran a commissary which today would be considered a general store which sold everything from shoes to tools to groceries. The tenant farmers would buy most of their needs from the commissary and pay for them when their crops were sold so it became sort of a meeting place for the community. I remember three things about this place. One, was the smell when I walked in which to me was pleasant. Another was a huge wooden keg which held some type of drink and a tap that would be turned on to fill cups which were nearby. When Daddy would buy us a drink which was not often, we felt elated and nothing has ever tasted so good. I do not remember Granddad ever giving us a drink which is so different from grandfathers today and we knew better than to ask for one.

The one thing about the place that fascinated me most was the catalogues that Granddad used for ordering supplies especially those that had the most beautiful dresses on lovely young girls. They made super cutouts for paper dolls and when I could I would sit for hours just looking and dreaming about how it would be to have some of them. However, they were always given to Johnnie, Granddad's baby daughter who I thought had everything. She and I would play house and pretend these cutouts were our children. Of course Johnnie's dolls were always prettier since the only cutouts I had came from the Sears Catalog and I always had to share those with the other sisters. I knew not to ever ask for anything but one day I happened to be in the store alone with Granddad and I finally got enough courage to ask if I could have the next catalog when it became outdated. Granddad promised that I could and I was so excited. I do not remember but I probably told Johnnie that it was going to be mine. I dreamed about cutting out all those lively outfits and could not wait. The day finally came when a new catalog was delivered but when I went to get the old one, I discovered that Johnnie had already cut out the prettiest "dolls." Even then I knew not to argue about the unfairness because in my childish way of thinking Johnnie belonged to Granddad and had every right to be catalog, so we continued to play house as usual - Johnnie with her beautiful children and me with my Sears models.

Granddad made his money from farming but also from buying cotton futures which today would be called a broker. When a farmer wanted to sell a bale of cotton, Granddad would buy it at the priced offered at that time then hold it in a warehouse until prices went up and sell for a profit. In the meantime he acquired more land, bought more cotton Then depression started and the market fell causing Granddad to lose almost everything.

I have often thought had Granddad been satisfied with less and not wanted the most land, the biggest house, the first car with glass windows, etc., he would have been much better off in the long run. However, to me he was a great man and was a strong influence in my life. In later years Granddad began to love me, too, and seemed to really like me. Many times h e would ask for my opinion about some matter. In the end, he and I became friends.

In our growing up years, I always knew that to him and Grandmother, Anne was their favorite. She was the perfect child. They were fond of Murrell since Mother came back to give birth. In our family album there is a picture of Murrell and Grandmother together. Then when Mellie Brown came along, she was a little angel and such a good child that Grandmother always believed she would not live to grow up.

Grandmother was never mean or unkind to me but more or less just ignored me. Once she bought Anne a cute little pair of panties and gave them to her in my presence. I had never had a pair of store-bought ones and can still see how ugly my home made bloomers were compared to Anne's silky little briefs that fit. I wonder today if she had bought them for Johnnie, found out they were too small and gave them to Anne who was smaller. As I grew older, Grandmother Annie began to like me more and by the time I began teaching at 18, she seemed to be very found of me. Maybe it was because I began making her a dress or two since I had begun sewing at an early age.

I was fascinated with sewing so when Johnnie and the cousins would come to my house to play, invariably one of them who had bought a piece of cloth (ordered from Sears at 14 cents a yard) would bring it along with a picture of how they wanted a dress made. While there played outside, I made the dress and was thrilled when they bragged on my sewing. I remember on several occasions Daddy would come to where I was sitting at the machine and tell me I should be out playing with the others. He said that it was not fair for me to sit and sew while the others were having fun. It was hard even as a child for me to refuse to sew for someone and it has carried over into my adult life. I just cannot say no when someone wants me to sew something for them, and I still get lots of requests.

Grandmother was only 52 when she died. She became ill and was in a coma. I was teaching when someone came to pick me up at the end of the week. On the way home I was told that Grandmother was dying and did not know anyone. When we got to her house, instead of going directly to her room, I ran around to the side of the house and prayed so earnestly that she would just come out of the coma and speak to me one more time. When I did go in I stood by her bed and called her name. I will never forget how happy I was when she opened her eyes and spoke to me. We had a thing about chicken soup, so I asked if she would eat some soup if I made it especially for her and she indicated that she would. I made the soup and she did eat a spoonful or two. She died later than night or soon after.

I was able to do one final thing for Grandmother. Sometime before her death I had bought what I thought was a lovely piece of pink material, so the next day I used it to make her a dress in which she was buried. I remember very little about the design of the dress except that it had tiny tucks in the front and a bit of lace around the neck. We thought she looked beautiful in it and Louise was so grateful that I had made it for her mother. It was a cold day when we attended her funeral at the First Baptist of Hazlehurst and all of us grieved for her for many months to come.

Sam was already married when Grandmother died and Johnnie married Reuben soon after. Granddad continued to live in the house with Johnnie and Reuben and soon children came along. Granddad adored those babies and I am sure they were a great comfort to him. About the time the third child was born Granddad got in touch with his childhood sweetheart named Ada. She was his first cousin and the two of them had fallen in love but first cousins could not marry, so he left home at 18. He later married and she did, too. They both had families and both spouses had died so they began corresponding. I was very interested in the romance but Johnnie thought it was ridiculous for "Papa to even think of getting married again."

I encouraged the romance and wrote lots of letters for Granddad. I even called her Grandmother Ada which pleased Granddad immensely. In one letter he asked for a photo of her. I will never forget the day he received the picture. His first words were that she looked so old. I asked him if he had looked in the mirror lately because he, too, was looking older. He looked closely in the mirror and said that he thought he still looked better. What vanity men have! By this time I had a car so I promised to take Granddad to North Carolina to see his old flame. We did all the planning without consulting Johnnie and when she found out she was furious. In the end she convinced Granddad that if he did go see Ada, she would never let him see her third son, Will Henry again. Granddad believed her and broke up the romance. There was another problem, too. Ada and Granddad both owned their own homes and neither wanted to give them up.

In later years I would pass Granddad's house and see him sitting alone by the open fire while Johnnie was busy with her family or church or whatever and would think that had he married Grandmother Ada he would at least have companionship and not be so lonely.

Among the things I remember about Granddad during this time, I am only going to mention three. Around his house were many pecan trees. They were trees he had planted and he was so proud of the nuts they produced. Many times when we would be walking by, he would stand at the picket fence with his hands filled with pecans and give them to us.

Granddad loved turnip greens and collards. Johnnie did not care for them and with the children she really did not have the time to cook them, so at least once a week Mother would cook some and we would go get Granddad to come eat with us. As was typical and considered good manners in those days, one only took one thing to eat at a time. I can see Granddad's plate filled with turnips and his special cornbread and perhaps a baked sweet potato. I am grateful that in his old age, we were always happy to have him come eat with us because he was such a special person.

The third thing I remember so distinctly is Granddad asking the blessing. All of the grandchildren knew exactly how he would begin, "Our Father make us thankful for the blessings we are about to receive." Somehow we knew that God heard Granddad when in his humble manner he asked God's blessings.

Even in death Granddad was accommodating. I was in graduate school at the University along with three of the sisters. We knew Granddad was sick so came home one weekend and discussed how we would have to miss classes to come back when he died which we realized would be soon. Granddad died that weekend so we were able to attend his funeral and not miss any classes.

I want to add one more paragraph for the descendants who might read this brief history about W. L. Beall. You have a great heritage and a great example to follow. He was not perfect and along the way made mistakes like all of us do, but he was a dedicated Christian who loved his Lord and was always faithful to his church. He was a great influence in my life and I will always treasure the time I spent in his presence. Many of you are still members of Elizabeth Church and many others will come back from time to time, so when you do and when you walk into the sanctuary, please remember Granddad who walked there before you and take time to say, "Dear Lord make us thankful for the blessings we are about to receive. Amen."

Corrected information found at Bethlehem Church Cemetery.
After writing about the Beall graves at the Bethlehem Cemetery, I found pictures which I had made years ago of the Beall marker. The following corrects any errors I might have made earlier.

In addition to these children born to Mollie, there were three more. Annie Lee was born on 20 November 1897 between Lelia and Lula. Since Uncle Willie and Uncle Bennie were older than Mother, they were probably the first two born. I would like for someone to send me the birth and death dates of Uncle Willie and Uncle Bennie.

Note: Mollie died 19 August 1904; Blanche Virginia's first child was born 17 December 1905. Between Mollie's death and birth of Blanche's first child was only 16 months lacking two days, so within a period of 16 months, Granddad buried Mollie, married Virginia and had a child. I remember Mother saying they did not wait long after Mollie's death but it made sense since three young children needed a mother and Virginia had always lived with them. They did not have a long marriage since Mollie died in August 1904 and Virginia died in December 1906. Due to having so many children so close together probably accounted for their early deaths. Mollie was only 32 and had given birth to seven children, and Blanche Virginia was 27 and had given birth to two in only two years of marriage. Aren't we thankful that things have changed today?

Written October 15, 2002 by Marion Pennington Boyles, second oldest grandchild, sent to me September 2005.
Daughter of Annie Lee Beall; grand daughter of Marietta V. Upton Beall.

According to Georgia Death Index, Willie L. Beall, died 6 November 1948 in Jeff Davis County at the age of 84. Certificate #29302.